Ironing machine



IRONING MACHINE Filed NOV. 14,

2 Sheets-Sheet l gwuenfoz Nov. 11, 1924. 1,515,545

T. N. BROWN IRONING MACHINE Filed Nov 14. 1.921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 11, 1924.

THOMAS NIBROWN, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

IRONING MACHINE.

Application filed November 14, 1921.

fooll whom it 'inayfconcern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS N. BnowN, a. citizen of the United States, residing at Fort lVayne, in the county of Allen and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ironing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,- such as will enable others skilled in the art to which. it appertains to make and use the same.-

The object of the invention is the provision of an ironing machine wherein the feed roll is so mounted and arranged that the same may be permitted to remain stationary when not in use and to provide means whereby when it is desired to impart movement to the 'feed roll, suitable connection is readily made between thedriving mechanism of the machine and the shaft supporting the feed roll for imparting movement to the feed roll, said means including a substantially floating ear having connection with the main driving shaft and a ear or pinion on the inner end .of the fee roll shaft adapted to be engaged and-disengaged with the floatingigear, the arrangement being such that the feed roll may be positively driven regardless of the thickness of the covering applied to the feed roll.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detail perspective view. of an ironing machine constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3,and

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view illustrating the manner of mounting the feed table. a

In the drawings, numeral 1 indicates the main standard of the ironing machine supported by suitable legs-2 having casters 3 whereby the machine may be readily moved from place to place. At the upper end of the standard 1 is a housing 4 which is substantially rectangular in cross section as shown in Fig 3, but may be made in any other desired shape. Supported beneath the housing 4 by means of a shelf 5 is a motor 6 to rovide power for the o eration of the mac ine. A safety cover is ar- Serial No. 515,060.

ranged over the connection between the motor and the operating mechanism as shown in Fig. 1.

Extending transversely through the housing 4 is the main shaft 8 of the machine having a worm gear 9 mounted thereon, said gear being connected in any suitable manner to the motor 6. Upon the'shaft 8 adjacent the worm gear 9 is a gear 10 which has suitable driving connection with the heating roll 11 for imparting rotation to said roll. Swingably mounted on the shaft 8 outside the housing 4 is a link 14. Abutments 15 and 51 extend from the wall of the housing on each side of the link for limiting the range of movement of the same, a spring 46 normally holding the link against the abutment 15. Mounted adjacent saidlink- 14 on the shaft 8 is a gear 16 having its hub 17 keyed on the shaft as by a pin 18'. Projecting laterally from the link 14 at the free end thereof is a stub shaft 19 on which is mounted a wide gear 20 suitably spaced from the link, this gear meshing with the driving gear or pinion 16. l

Secured to the housing is a bearing plate 23 having a boss 2 1 in which one end of a transverse supporting rod 25 is .mounted. Rotatably mounted on the supporting rod is a sleeve 26 and fixedly mounted on said sleeve is a pair of arms 27 each having a boss 28 through which passes a set screw 29 for securing the arms to said sleeve.

The other ends of the arms 27 are pro--' vided with bearing sleeves 30 for supporting a rotatable shaft 31 to which the feed roll 22 is secured.

Mounted on the inner end of the shaft 31 is a pinion 34 having a hub 32 throu h which passes a pin 33 for securing t e pinion to the shaft, said pinion being adapted to be swung'into mesh with the gear 20 when the feed roll 22 is swung toward the heating roll, the shaft 31 being rotated when the pinion 34 is in mesh with the wide gear 20, as will now be readily understood. For bracing the transversely extending rod 25 on which the feed roll carrying arms 27 are mounted, there may be provided a brace 35 extending between said rod and the standard 1 as shown in Fig. 1.

In order that the feed roll '22 ma be raised and lowered toward and awe cm the heating roll 11, a rod 36 is provi ed, the upper end of which is connected as at 37 to an angular extension 45 of one of the swing ing arms 27, the lower end of the rod 36 being connected to a foot lever 38 having a treadle 39 at the other end thereof, whereby upon downward movement of the treadle the feed roll 22 will be moved upwardly toward the heating roll 11. As this opera tion is carried out, the pinion 34 on the feed roll shaft 31 will be moved upwardly into engagement with the gear 20 and as the gear 20 is continuously rotated through the medium of the driving pinion 16, rotation will be imparted to the feed roll. In order to retain the feed roll 22 in a raised position, the foot lever 38 is provided with a dog 40 adapted to engage the notched rack 41 when said lever is moved laterally to thus retain the outer end of the foot lever in a lowered position, retaining the feed roll in its proper raised position. WVhen it is desired to lower the feed roll, the foot lever is released as will be readily understood, there being provided a retraction spring 42 connected to the rod 36 as at 43 and to the post or pedestal 1 as at 44, to assist in lowering the feed roll.

The thickness of the padding or covering on the feed roll frequently varies. Should there be a thin covering on the feed roll, thus necessitating the raising of its driving gear 34 beyond the point where the link 14 is normally positioned, it will be necessary to raise the gear 20 to obtain proper meshing between the pinion 34 and the gear 20 and in order to do this, an angular plate 49 is attached to the inner bracket 27 by means of a screw 50. Thus when the arm 27 is raised, the horizontal portion of the plate 49 will engage beneath the end of the shaft 19 to raise the gear 20 to its proper position for engagement with the gear 34. In the present instance, the feed roll is shown as provided with a fairly heavy covering so that the link 14 will be in its pro or relative position as shown in Fig. 2 where y the raising of the feed roll will engage the pinion 34 with the gear 20 at the time proper pressure has been provided for between the feed roll 22 and the heating roll 11, but should a thinner covering be applied to the feed roll, it will necessitate the raising of the feed roll beyond this normal position and thus the arm carried lateral projection or plate 49 comes into action in order to raise the shaft 19 and gear 20 so as to maintain proper meshing contact between the gear 20 and the pinion 34.

The feed table 52 which is mounted in front of the feed roll 22 is supported by the bearing plate 23 on a vertical pivot, said table having a bracket 53 through the head 54 of which the pivot pin 55 extends into the boss 56 formed on plate 23. It will thus be seen that the table 52 can be readily swung to position in front of the feed roll or moved away from the same if desired.

From the above it will be seen that I have provided a relatively simple mechanism which will permit the feed roll to be positively engaged with the driving mechanism irrespective of the thickness of the padding on either the feed roll or the heating roll. Various details of construction may obviously be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

An ironing machine including a main shaft, a heating roll carried thereby, a driving pinion carried by the main shaft, 2. link rotatably mounted on said shaft, a stud shaft carried by the link, a relatively wide gear on the stud shaft and in mesh with said pinion, a stationary rod, supporting arms mounted for rotation upon the stationary rod, a feed roll, a rotatable shaft supporting and fixed to said feed roll and itself supported at the outer ends of said arms, a pinion fixed to said rotatable shaft, means for raising and lowering the feed roll shaft to engage and disengage its pinion with the wide gear, means for supporting the link in position, and means carried by one of the arms adapted to engage the stub shaft noon the upward movement of the rotatable shaft above a predetermined point whereby to raise the wide gear for proper meshing with the feed roll pinion.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

THOMAS N. BROWN. 

